Railway switching and signaling apparatus.



PATENTED MAY 22 W. K. HOWE. RAILWAY SWITGHING AND SIGNALING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1905.

2 HEETs-sHEBT 1.

PATENTED MAY 22, 1906.

W. K. HOWE RAILWAY SWITCHING AND SIGNALING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Jimmy? WINTITHROP K. HOVVEt F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

, HAELWIAY $WlTGHlllMl-?l Altllll $lGINALlNG APPARATUS,

Specification of Letters Pate-,1.

Patented May as, race.

Application filed August 29, 1905. Serial 1%. 576,289-

To all whom it may concern:

Bo 1t known that I, Wmrnnor K. HOWE, a c t zen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Inn provement in Railway Switching and Signaling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

, My invention relates to railway switching and signaling ap'iaratus, and more particu larly relates to t at class of railway-switching and si naling apparatus employing elec tricity as t e motive power.

The chief objects of my invention are, first, to establish a sequence of movements causedby the motor, so that the motor may race after the raiLswitch and the detectorbar movements and the locking are completed and before the polc-cl1anging switch 1s thrown in order to store up energy to-pro- .duce dynamic indication; second, to provide like means whereby the locking-bolt shall have such resilient action as to prevent the shearin the locking: bar in case the bar and bolt fail to register. I To this end my invention consists of the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings, diagrammatic in character, in which characters of reference indicate similar parts, in which Figure 1 is a plan of a rail-switch provided with my invention.

the line 1} y ofFi 1. --F1g, 3 is a side elevation of the switc mechanism. Fig. l is a dia am of movements.

T 'e switch-points are indicated by the figures 1'1.

2 is a motor for moving the switch.

3 is a motion-plate reciprocatecl by the engagement of the spur-gear a on the motor 2,

With a rack 5 rigidly secured to the motionplate 3.

6 is the switch-rod for moving the switchpoints 1 1. Pivoted to this rod 6 is a flat plate 7, which carries pivoted to it a roller 8. This roller 8 lies in a slot 9 in the 1notionplate 3. By the reciprocation of the motion.

plate 3 through the roller 8 in the slot 9, the

1 points and connected to the locking-plate l1.

' ar 7, and the switch-rod 6 the switch-points I 1 are moved from one position to the other.

10 is a lock-rod connected to the switch This plate 11 passes through guides and moves with the switchoints in the usual manner. This plate 11 ms notches 12 and Fig. 2 is a section on' y 13 for locking the switch as follows: 14. is a bar mounted in guides which are secured to I the niotionerilatefi, so that the bar 14 may ,move longitudinally independently of the l motion-plate 3. Mounted upon the ends of the bar is are rods 1.5 15, which take r through holes in lugs 16 16, which are secured to the motion-plate li'itcrposcd between lugs 16 16" and the ends of the bar 14 are helical springs l7 1?. Secured to the bar 14; are locl -bolts 18 and 19, which are capable of entering the notches l2 and 13 in the bar ll---that is to say, the bolt 18 will enter the notch 12 when the rail-switch set for the main. track and the bolt 19 will enter the notch 13 when'the raihswitch is set tor the side track. The bolts 18 and 19 are of sufficient length to permit n'iovcmcnt of the mo tionplate after the bolt 18 enters the notch or the bolt 13 enters the notch 13 to produce the racing action of the motor, hereinafter described.

pivoted to the bar 23. The bar 23 is pivoted tudinally in guides carries pivoted to it a roller 25, which lies in a slot 26 in the motion-plate 3.

27 is a pole-changing switch of the usual type, which serves to reverse the current in the armature oi: the motor 2 to )roduce the rcciprocatory movement of the motionplate 3. This pole-changing switch is oper ated by a rod 28%, pivoted to it and mounted in any suitable manner by the side of the .motion-plate 3. The rod 28 carries a lug 29, which lies in the path of the lugs 30 and 31, which are rigidly secured to the bar 14. it is evident that the lug 3'1, engaging the lug 29,,will move the switch 27 to send. the currentthrough the armature oi the motor 2 4 in one direction and that the lug 30, engaging the lug 29, will reverse the current in the armature of theniotor.

Having described. the several parts of the As shown in the drawings, the rail-switch is set for the main track. I will describe a movement setting the rail-switch for the side track. Current being supplied to the motor 2, it will rotate the spur-gear 4 in the direction to move the motion-plate 3, (to the right in Fig.

pivoted to the bell-crank lever 22, which is f to the plate 24, and the latter moving longi- 20 is a detector-bar of the usual type, I

apparatus, I will now show its operation. 7

During the first part of the movement, the eriod A B in the diagram of Fig. 4, no

' 'Wor is done by the motor except to move tion of the slot 9 engages the roller 8. At

the motion-plate 3 and the parts carried by it. During the second period of the movement, the period B C on the diagram, the roller 25 enters the incline in the slot 26 and raises the detector-bar 20. The bolt 18 on the bar 14 will during this second period be carried out of the slot 12 in the locking-plate 11, sothat the switch-points may be moved to reverse theraihswiteh during the next period. These movements completed, the conditions are proper for the movement of the rail-switch-that is, the detector-bar has beenrased and the locking-bolt withdrawn. It will be noted that during these two periods the roller 8 has occupied a straight part of the slot 9that is, a part that is parallel with the line of movement of the motionplate 3, and consequently no energy has been employed to move the switch. On the other hand, it will be noted-that while the roller 8 has occupied a straight part of the slot 9 the functions of. raising the detector-bar and unlocking have been performed. With the third part of the movement, the period C D on the diagram, the rail-switch is moved by the middle inclined portion of the slot 9 coming in contact with the roller 8. During this period the detector-bar has remained at rest, since the middle straight portion of the slot 26 has engaged the roller 25. During this period also the bolt 19 on the bar 14 has ap proached the bar 11, ready for locking with the next movement. The thirdperiod just described is complete when the straight porthat time the bar 14 is carried along with the motioneplate 3, so that the bolt 19 enters the slot 13 in the bar 11 and locks the rail-switch. At the same time the roller 25 is engaged by the reverse incline in the slot 26 and the de tector-bar is lowered. movement, which is the movement'D E on the diagram, the motor has no load except to move the pl ate 3, since the, rollers S and 25 are both occupying portions of the slots 9 and 26, which are parallel to the line of movement of the plate 3. It races, acquiring momentum for indication for a portion of the period E F, as diagrammatically shown by the line representing the electric switch movement in Fig. 4, until the lug 30 on the bar 14 strikes the lug 29 on the rod 28 and breaks the battery-circuit at the pole-changing switch 27 and in a moment establishes the indication-circuit by the completion of the throw of the pole-changing switch. The en ergy required to produce the indication will bring the motor to rest in the period E F at the time the roller 8 will have nearly reached the end of the slot 9.

Since a movement from reverse back to the main track would be substantially a rope- At the close of thistition of the steps just described, it need not be further described here. It will also be noted that the system of indication employed is' the Taylor dynamic indication, shown iii-patents to John D. Taylor, as followsz-Ne. 516,903, March 20, 1894; No. 554,097, February 4, 1896; No, 605,359, June 7, 1898, reissue No. 11,983, May 6, 1902.

The first object evident. B the diagram of Fig. 51 have shown graphically the sequence of movements If the entire movementfrom normal to reverse or from reverse to normal be composed of four hundred and twenty units, we may divide the same into'five periods-v1z., A B, B C, C D, D E, E F, in which A B equals E F and B 0 equals D E. A B and E F we employ, say, seventy units each. In the periods B C and D E we employ, say, sixty units, and for the switch movement, the period C D, we employ one of my inventionis thus- In the periods hundred and sixty units. This of course is merely illustrative and not necessarily the divisions required in any particular construction. By reference to the periods'B C and D E it will be noted that it requires sixtynnits time to raise the detector-bar and fifty units to unlock the switch. During the period C D the energy of the motor is expended for a period of one hundred and sixty units in moving the rail-switch. With the beginnin of the period'E F the motor is without load and immediately begins racing, thus acquiring abundant momentum to give dynamic indication after the pole-changing switch has been-thrown, as is diagrammatically shown by the line representing the electric-switch movement in Fig. 4. Mid way in this period the pole-changing switch is thrown, closing the indicating-circuit, and the load of indication will slow down the motor before the limit of the period is reached.

the

The object of this disposition of functions, as

may be so great as to prevent the motor from acquiring any momentum and a Weak indication will be given 3 but with my system abundant momentum will be acquired after the locking and lowering of the detector-bar have been accomplished togive dynamic indication, since the motor is cut loose from allload after all movements have been completed and before the pole-changing switch has been thrown.

By the use of my invention'it will be a arent from the foregoing that so far as tl fe indication is concerned it makes no difference how hard a switch moves or how slowly the motor is rotating while movingfj the switch, 

